Trip to Malindi: Refreshment on the Coast

Ready for a day in the sun.

Jeremiah displaying one of two Wahoo that he caught.

Dr. Ben Roberts, ophthalmologist at Tenwek, and great friend, conquered the barracuda.

Our collective Tenwek families recently spent 5 days at the WGM Kenya Spiritual Retreat in Malindi, on the Kenyan coastline of the Indian Ocean. Sessions of solid biblical teaching from Stan Key, mixed with a few extra days of family fun in the pool, body surfing during high tide, prayer walks on the beach, exploring the tide pools, Kayaking, two birthday celebrations (Levi and Dan) and a day of deep sea fishing made for some serious spiritual, physical, mental and emotional refreshment, and one of our best family vacations ever. We see so clearly how God provides for us at the right time as we wait upon him.

The next several weeks are going to be extremely busy for our family and in the department of orthopedics. April 26-30th is the 4th annual “total joint camp,” and this year will be different in that all the implants will be provided by the local Johnson and Johnson Company in Nairobi (rather than as donations from the US). This is important as we seek to have an ongoing, independent, viable joint replacement program at Tenwek, which will, Lord willing, help subsidize orthopedic care for the poor. We have at least 10 patients in the queue for surgery, including a very sweet 37 year old lady named Maggie who injured her hip as a teenager in a car accident, and since then has had three hip replacements (the current component are loose, and she can feel them moving with every step). Please keep our patients in prayer, that all would go smoothly, that there would be no complications, and especially that God would be glorified through this work.

As a quick update on our family, our tickets to return to the states have been written! Apart from any natural disaster such as a volcanic eruption in Iceland, we will return to the states on June2nd for a year of furlough. We continue to pray and wait for God’s direction, and Lord willing, we will return to Tenwek in the summer of 2011. Please continue to pray with us, as there are many details still to work out. We are so privileged to be serving with you at Tenwek, and continue to view all that the LORD does as a partnership, working together to serve patients with (literally) broken bodies, train nationals in the field of orthopedic surgery, disciple young African physicians, and spread the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Cor. 4:6).” Thank you for all your prayer and support!